The present technique relates to an apparatus and method for improving connectivity for items of user equipment in a wireless network.
As more and more users embrace mobile technology, this is placing ever increasing demands on the mobile networks used to support mobile communication. The networks are required to not only support an ever increasing number of devices, but also as the functionality associated with such devices becomes ever more complex, so this has also increased the capacity requirements within the network.
Accordingly, there is a need for network operators to provide increased network coverage, but also to improve network capacity so as to service the high performance demands placed upon the network by users of modern smartphones and the like.
The problems of providing sufficient network coverage and capacity can be particularly problematic in urban environments, where there is typically not only a high density of users, but where the urban infrastructure, such as large buildings, can significantly attenuate signals, and hence exacerbate the problem of seeking to provide sufficient network coverage and network capacity to service the users. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide techniques that enabled coverage and capacity to be improved.
In addition, as innovative techniques are developed to seek to address these issues, improvements in backhaul connectivity would be desirable to manage the increasing volume of traffic to be routed over backhaul connections.